By Ally Dean and Carli Whitwell

April 06, 2015

After
one of the coldest winters on record and with its many
mac-and-cheese-filled
evenings hibernating under Hudson’s Bay blankets
in our chunky Acne knits, we were
both feeling the pressure to shape up as the mercury started to climb.

Working on the “Countdown to Summer” guide in Hello! Canada issue 443 (which hits newsstands on April 9!) didn't hurt either, and we
decided that now is the perfect time to
jump-start our healthy lifestyles. Luckily, thanks to celebrities
such as
Kate Winslet, Christina Hendricks, Kate Upton and Gigi Hadid, we can do
so
while happily embracing our natural curves.

(A little background on us: Neither one of us
is genetically programmed to waif setting, nor are our lifestyles
. We blame the
tantalizing and never-ending stash of candy at the
Hello! Canada offices and
the endless cocktails and canapés on offer at industry events. Hard life, we
know.)

To
emphasize their feminine silhouettes, some of our role models, from
Jessica Alba to Kim Kardashian, are turning to waist training, the practice of using
girdles or corsets to sculpt an hourglass shape previously seen only on the
likes of Jessica Rabbit.

And of course we had to try – and share our undergarment adventure with you! For the next 30 days, both of us will be waist training and blogging our weekly updates, progress and general
impressions on
hellomagazine.ca.

For
us, it made perfect sense to go through this together. Not only can we cheer each
other on, but we are also quite different studies when it comes to health and fitness.

Fashion & beauty editor and self-professed "lazy girl" Ally says her cardio comes from running to fashion previews and beauty events (all while
juggling press materials, a Venti Starbucks and her Dior So Real sunglasses) - let’s call it a
fashion-forward version of weight training. Waist training, she hopes,
will be the
kickstart she needs to accomplish her 2015 fitness goals.

Senior
writer Carli
, on the other hand, is a fitness fanatic. She loves to exercise
(sick, we know) and works out at least four times a week – whether it’s spin
class, jogging, interval or strength training. The
role
model of our office fitness circle
, the aim behind her corseted crash course is
to boost the results from her
relatively healthy lifestyle just in time for her
brother’s upcoming wedding.

To
give you an idea of what we’ll be going through, here’s how the process works.
Most modern waist trainers are made of latex. Wearing this for
up to 10 hours a
day
(once you work up to it!) will heat up the core, causing you to sweat more
and eventually reduce waist size
up to three inches, according to Ruben Soto,
the CEO and founder of HourglassAngel.com. As the head
of one of North America’s leading shapewear companies, we turned to Ruben and
his team to help whittle our waists.

Wearing
a waist trainer will also make you fuller faster and with less food. And the
results can be immediate. “
You will see a slimmer waistline as soon as you put
it on
due to the contouring effects of the corset. For best results, customers
should continue to wear the garments on a daily basis,” Ruben tells
Hello!

Gulp.

Intrigued? We thought so. Follow our journey on our blog
on hellomagazine.ca and on Twitter -
@AllyEDean and @CarliWhitwell with the
hashtag
#HELLOwaist. We’ll check in on April 2 after a day of wearing the corsets
and then every week after. Wish us luck!

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